Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for cutting plywood and individual plies which are glued together to form sheets of plywood and more particularly, to a plywood saw for cutting both plywood and ply sheeting. The plywood saw of this invention is characterized by an elongated barrel fitted with a jigsaw at one end, a drive rod extending through the barrel in slidable relationship, with one end of the drive rod attached to the reciprocating blade mount element of the jigsaw and the opposite end of the drive rod pivotally attached to a curved or straight saw blade. Operation of the jigsaw causes the drive rod to reciprocate inside the barrel and operate the saw blade in a rocking action to effect cutting of the plywood or ply.
One of the problems which exists in plywood mills is that of clearing the ply-layout conveyor machinery of kinked, broken and skewed sheeting as the sheeting, or "ply" is cut in a continuous sheet by a knife blade from a rotating log mounted in a mandrel. As the thin sheeting is peeled from the mandrel by the knife blade it is directed by means of rollers in a conveyor system to an area where it is laminated with other sheets or "plies", to form plywood. Occasionally, this thin "ply" is not cut uniformly or for other reasons jams in the conveyor apparatus and must be cleared by hand, thereby necessitating a shutdown of the mandrel and associated ply cutting and conveying apparatus. The sheeting is cleared from the conveyor by means of hand saws and other hand tools, a procedure which sometimes requires a considerable period of time before operation can be resumed.
It is an object of this invention to provide a plywood saw which is capable of quickly and easily clearing the conveyor apparatus in a plywood mill, thereby lessening down-time and increasing mill efficiency.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved plywood saw which is capable of cutting sheets of plywood or one or more plywood "ply", in order to clear the plywood conveyor system of broken, skewed or jammed wood sheeting in a short period of time.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a plywood saw for clearing conveyor systems in plywood mills of plywood sheeting, which plywood saw is characterized by an elongated barrel fitted with a jigsaw at one end, a drive rod provided in the barrel and having one end attached to the reciprocating element of the jigsaw and the opposite end of the drive rod secured to a saw blade which is pivotally mounted on the end of the barrel, in order to facilitate a cutting action in the saw blade responsive to operation of the jigsaw to engage, cut and clear the sheeting from the conveyor system.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved plywood saw for clearing wooden sheeting from conveyor systems in a plywood mill, which plywood saw includes a jigsaw mechanism, an elongated barrel having one end attached to the jigsaw mechanism, a drive rod provided in the barrel and having one end attached to the reciprocating element of the jigsaw mechanism and a curved saw blade having one segment pivotally secured to the opposite end of the reciprocating rod and another segment pivotally attached to the barrel, whereby operation of the jigsaw facilitates a rocking or oscillating action of the curved saw blade to enable cutting and clearing of the wooden sheeting from the conveyor system.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a plywood saw for clearing wooden sheeting of various thickness from conveyor systems in a plywood mill, which plywood saw includes a jigsaw mechanism, an elongated barrel attached at one end to the jigsaw mechanism, a drive rod provided in the barrel and having one end attached to the reciprocating element of the jigsaw mechanism and a curved saw blade having one segment pivotally secured to the opposite end of the reciprocating rod and another element pivotally attached to the opposite end of the barrel, whereby operation of the jigsaw facilitates an oscillating action of the curved saw blade to enable cutting and clearing of the wooden sheeting from the conveyor system.